home_and_away_soap_operafandomcom-20200213-history
Tom Fletcher
Thomas Edward "Tom" Fletcher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Fletcher_(Home_and_Away) was a character in Home And Away from January 1988 (Pilot Episode) to April 1990 (Episode 526). In 2008 (Episode 4576), Tom made a ghostly reappearance in a vision experienced by Sally Fletcher. Tom was was the patriarch and head of the Fletcher family, and the first husband of Pippa Ross. He was a major character in the first two years of the show and one of the first to be created by the show's creator Alan Bateman. In 1990 (Episode 525), he died at the wheel of his car, from either a heart attack or stroke. His foster children Bobby Simpson, Sophie Simpson and Steven Matheson were passengers in the car. Tom was played by New Zealand-Australian actor Roger Oakley. Biography Backstory Thomas Edward Fletcher was born on 17th January 1948 (or 6th March 1947 if his headstone is to be believed) in Sydney, Australia. He was the patriarch of the Fletcher family and first husband of Pippa King. His father left his mother when he was a baby and his mother placed him in foster care in 1949 when Tom was 2 years old. Tom once fancied film actress Marilyn Monroe. He joined the army aged about 19 and served in the Vietnam War. While there, he met fellow soldier Danny King and they became good friends. Tom started dating Danny's younger sister Pippa once he returned to Australia and they married in 1969. They later began to foster children, starting with Frank Morgan in the late 1970s. Tom and Pippa lived in Sydney until 1987, when he was made redundant from his job. Struggling to find another job, and social services making noises about splitting up their foster family, they decided to relocate. They moved to the sunny seaside town of Summer Bay, bought Summer Bay House and began to run the adjacent Caravan Park. Tom later worked for the Macklin Development Firm. He was a respected man in the community, although he could be fiery and handy with his fists at times. 1988-1990 After Frank, Tom and Pippa took in more foster children. When they moved to Summer Bay, the family consisted of Frank Morgan, Sally Keating, Steven Matheson, Carly Morris and Lynn Davenport. They soon went on to foster local tearaway Bobby Simpson. Tom clashed early on with neighbour Donald Fisher who was the vice principal of the local high school. In comparison to the man he later became, Donald was something of a troublemaker and made it difficult for Tom to find a job locally. Don also tried to stitch up Bobby which didn't help things either. Tom worked as a navvy on the road gang and his foreman was the belligerent Sam Barlow. Sam began to harass some of Tom's foster children. This led to Tom besting him in a fight. Sam killed his wife Kerry and was jailed. Tom bettered himself when he left the road gang and later went to work for The Macklin Corporation. Tom became a first-time father in September 1988 to baby Christopher. This came as something of a surprise to him and Pippa because he'd had a vasectomy (Pippa supposedly had medical issues that wouldn't make it safe for her to have her own children). He and Pippa formally adopted Sally. They also added Sophie Simpson and (briefly) Brian "Dodge" Forbes to their family. A year or so later, Tom and Pippa's marriage suffered a lot of strain when he was led to believe she was having an affair with shark hunter Zac Burgess (she wasn't). Under pressure, he later became overloaded with work and was hospitalised for weeks. Sadly Tom died suddenly in April 1990 aged just 43 when he had a heart attack at the wheel of the car he was driving. Pippa was devastated but later met and married Michael Ross. Tom's legacy lived on in Summer Bay. 18 years later, Sally saw a vision of him when she was stabbed and was lingering between life and death in hospital. In a special one-off episode, he appeared to her in a dreamlike, unfurnished Summer Bay house and offered her a choice. She could either walk upstairs in the house and reunite with the people she'd loved and lost: Michael, Ailsa, Bobby and Flynn. Or she could choose life and return to her old life. After deliberating upon it, Sally decided to choose life. Before disappearing, Tom asked her to tell Pippa that he loved her more than ever. Memorable info Birthdate: 17 January, 1948 Died: 26th April 1990 (aged 42) Full name: Thomas Edward Fletcher First Line "How difficult?" (to Mr Jarvis) Last Line "Oh, the olden days! Do us a favour! Oh, let's see, in the olden days I think we used to call it a French kiss." (to Steven, Bobby and Sophie) Tom's grave marker mistakenly records his birth name as "Thomas Robert Fletcher" and his date of birth as 6 March 1947. Personality Reception Family Siblings at least 1 brother Spouse Pippa King (1969-1990) Children Christopher Fletcher (1986) Sally Fletcher (1979) GrandChildren Pippa Saunders (2002) See also *Tom Fletcher - List of appearances *Fletcher Family Tree Category:Home And Away characters. Category:Past characters. Category:Characters first seen in 1988. Category:Characters last seen in 1990. Category:Original characters. Category:Fletcher family. Category:1947 births. Category:1969 marriages. Category:1990 deaths. Category:Soldiers. Category:Businessmen. Category:Janitors. Category:Foster fathers. Category:Road workers. Category:Macklin Group employees. Category:Fictional Australians of English ancestry. Category:Residents of Summer Bay House. Category:Vietnam Veterans Category:Iconic Home And Away Characters. Category:Deceased characters